Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Looked Like My Grandmother|
I stared at the photograph until the faces blurred.
The woman beside my father had my grandmother's eyes.
Her narrow shoulders.
Her gentle smile.
Even the familiar way she tilted her head.
For one impossible moment, I believed Eleanor Bennett had returned from the dead.
Then I noticed her hands.
Grandma's left hand had been permanently bent by arthritis.
The woman in the photograph held hers perfectly straight.
I took a trembling breath.
"That's not her."
Adrian looked at me.
"You're sure?"
I nodded.
"She looks like Grandma, but it isn't her."
Marcus enlarged the photograph.
The woman wore a hospital identification badge.
The name was partially visible.
Evelyn Price.
I stared.
"Price?"
Adrian frowned.
"Your grandmother's maiden name."
I nodded.
Then a childhood memory surfaced.
Grandma standing beside the kitchen sink.
A faded photograph in her hands.
Two little girls wearing identical dresses.
I'd asked who they were.
She'd smiled sadly.
"That's me and my sister."
I looked at Adrian.
"My grandmother had a twin."
He stared.
"What?"
"An identical twin sister."
Helen's face changed.
"Evelyn."
I turned.
"You knew?"
Helen nodded slowly.
"Eleanor mentioned her once."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she said they hadn't spoken in years."
I looked back at the photograph.
Evelyn Price.
My grandmother's twin.
Standing beside my father.
Twenty-five years after he disappeared.
"Why is she with him?" I whispered.
Nobody answered.
We left for St. Catherine's Medical Center immediately.
The drive felt endless.
I sat in the back seat beside Helen, clutching my father's letter.
Adrian sat opposite me.
His phone rang twice.
He ignored both calls.
Finally, I asked, "Why aren't you answering?"
He looked at the screen.
"Thomas."
My stomach tightened.
"He's calling you?"
"Yes."
"Answer."
Adrian studied me.
"Nora."
"Please."
He hesitated.
Then accepted the call and activated the speaker.
"Thomas."
A familiar voice filled the vehicle.
"Big brother."
I felt cold.
Thomas Cole had always been charming.
He sent flowers to employees after family emergencies.
He remembered birthdays.
He donated generously to hospitals.
And he had apparently signed a memo suggesting that a five-year-old child could be used to pressure her father.
Adrian's voice remained calm.
"Where are you?"
Thomas laughed.
"Somewhere with better weather."
"You're in Switzerland."
"Then why ask?"
Adrian looked at me.
"What do you want?"
Thomas sighed.
"To save you from making a terrible mistake."
"What mistake?"
"Trusting Nora Bennett."
My fingers tightened around the letter.
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Be careful."
Thomas laughed again.
"She's not who you think she is."
I leaned forward.
"Then tell me who I am."
Silence.
Then Thomas spoke.
"Nora."
His voice changed.
Almost affectionate.
"I wondered when you'd finally start asking questions."
My skin crawled.
"Did you know my father?"
"Very well."
"Did you threaten me when I was five?"
A pause.
Adrian watched the phone.
Thomas sighed.
"Your father was an unreasonable man."
I felt tears burn.
"That's not an answer."
"He could have walked away."
"From what?"
"From things that didn't concern him."
I gripped the seat.
"Did you kill my mother?"
The vehicle went silent.
Thomas didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, "Your mother made dangerous accusations."
I swallowed.
"Did you kill her?"
"Some questions are better left unanswered."
Adrian leaned toward the phone.
"Thomas, listen carefully."
His voice was colder than I'd ever heard it.
"If you had anything to do with Sarah Bennett's death, I'm going to make sure the authorities have every piece of evidence."
Thomas laughed.
"Authorities?"
He sounded amused.
"Since when did you become a model citizen?"
Adrian didn't flinch.
"Since I realized what our family had become."
Silence.
Then Thomas spoke quietly.
"You always were Father's favorite."
Adrian's expression changed.
Thomas continued.
"He gave you the hotels."
"The restaurants."
"The respectable name."
"And what did he give me?"
Adrian said nothing.
"He gave me the dirty work."
His voice sharpened.
"The problems."
"The secrets."
"The people who had to disappear."
My stomach twisted.
Adrian spoke.
"You could have refused."
Thomas laughed bitterly.
"Could I?"
"Yes."
"That's easy for you to say."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"You had choices."
"So did Daniel Bennett."
I felt my heart stop.
"What happened to my father?" I demanded.
Thomas fell silent.
Then he said, "Ask Evelyn."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Adrian immediately forwarded the recording to Detective Hayes.
Nobody spoke for the remainder of the drive.
At the hospital, two detectives met us near the entrance.
They explained that Daniel Bennett had been treated the previous evening but had left before investigators arrived.
My hope collapsed.
"Left?"
Detective Hayes nodded.
"With Evelyn Price."
I looked at her.
"Where did they go?"
"We're trying to determine that."
I closed my eyes.
Again.
Always one step behind.
The detective continued.
"But we have something for you."
She handed me a sealed envelope.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Nora,
I saw you yesterday.
You were standing outside the pharmacy across from the hospital.
I wanted to call your name.
But I was afraid the men following me would see you.
Please forgive me.
Dad.
My knees weakened.
Adrian caught my elbow.
I stared at the words.
Yesterday.
I remembered stopping at that pharmacy.
I'd bought bandages for a small cut on my hand.
I'd stood outside waiting for a taxi.
And somewhere nearby, my father had watched me.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
"He saw me."
Helen began crying.
I looked at Detective Hayes.
"Did he leave anything else?"
She nodded.
"A message."
My heart hammered.
"What message?"
Hayes looked at her notes.
"He said to tell you that he remembers the yellow raincoat."
I covered my mouth.
My yellow raincoat.
The one from the photograph.
The one I'd worn every Sunday when Dad took me to count boats.
I began sobbing.
For twenty-five years, I'd wondered whether he remembered me.
Now I knew.
He remembered.
Maybe not everything.
Maybe not every year.
But he remembered me.
Adrian stood quietly beside me.
He didn't interrupt.
He didn't offer empty promises.
He simply waited until I could breathe again.
Then Detective Hayes spoke.
"We also identified Evelyn Price."
I looked up.
"Where has she been?"
"Living in Canada for most of the past thirty years."
"Why?"
"We're still investigating."
She paused.
"But she contacted us voluntarily this morning."
My heart pounded.
"She did?"
Hayes nodded.
"She wants to speak with you."
I stared.
"Where?"
The detective hesitated.
"She requested a private meeting at your grandmother's house in Maine."
I looked at Adrian.
His expression darkened.
"That's too exposed."
Hayes nodded.
"We agree."
"Then why would she ask?"
The detective looked at me.
"She said Eleanor left something there that only Nora could identify."
I felt cold.
Another secret.
Another hiding place.
Another piece of my grandmother's life that I'd never known existed.
I looked down at my father's letter.
Then I made a decision.
"I'll meet her."
Adrian turned.
"Nora."
"I need to know."
He studied me.
Then nodded.
"With security."
"Fine."
We returned to Maine the following morning.
The weather had turned colder.
A light rain fell over Port Haven.
When we reached Grandma's house, two unmarked police vehicles were parked nearby.
Detective Hayes stood on the porch.
Beside her was an elderly woman wearing a navy coat.
Silver hair framed her face.
She turned when our car stopped.
I stepped out.
And my heart broke all over again.
Because Evelyn Price looked so much like my grandmother that I could almost hear Eleanor calling my name.
The woman raised a trembling hand.
"Nora?"
I couldn't speak.
She took one step forward.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Her eyes filled.
"You look just like Sarah."
I stared.
"My mother?"
Evelyn nodded.
"Especially around the eyes."
I felt tears burning.
She stopped a few feet away.
"I know I don't deserve a warm welcome."
Her voice trembled.
"But I've waited a very long time to meet you."
I swallowed.
"Where is my father?"
Evelyn looked toward Detective Hayes.
Then back at me.
"He's safe."
"Where?"
She hesitated.
I felt anger rise.
"Please don't lie to me."
Evelyn's face crumpled.
"I'm not."
"Then tell me."
She took a slow breath.
"Daniel asked me to come first."
"Why?"
"Because he wanted to know whether you could forgive him."
I stared at her.
Forgive him?
After twenty-five years?
After every birthday?
Every Christmas?
Every night I'd wondered why he hadn't come home?
I looked away.
"I don't know."
Evelyn nodded.
"That's fair."
She reached into her coat.
Adrian immediately stepped closer.
Evelyn stopped.
"Only a photograph."
She slowly removed a small picture.
It showed my father sitting beside a hospital window.
He held a little wooden star in his hand.
I recognized it.
He'd carved it for my fifth birthday.
I'd believed it had been lost with him.
Evelyn handed me the photograph.
"He's kept that star through everything."
My throat tightened.
"Everything?"
She nodded.
"The injuries."
"The memory problems."
"The years he couldn't remember his own name."
I stared at her.
"He remembered the star?"
"Yes."
Evelyn began crying.
"Even when he couldn't remember why it mattered."
I looked down at the photograph.
Then I whispered, "Why didn't you bring him home?"
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"Because the last time he tried, someone nearly killed him."
The rain tapped against the porch roof.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Evelyn looked at Adrian.
"Your father wasn't the only Cole involved in Blackwater."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"We know about Thomas."
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
She swallowed.
"Thomas didn't plan the explosion."
I stared at her.
"Then who did?"
Evelyn looked toward the harbor.
"Vincent Cole."
Adrian went completely still.
His father.
The man whose portrait hung above the mansion staircase.
The man whose business empire Adrian had inherited.
Evelyn continued.
"Thomas helped cover it up."
Her voice trembled.
"But Vincent gave the order."
Adrian stared at her.
For the first time since I'd known him, he looked completely lost.
May you like
And I realized the truth wasn't only destroying my family.
It was destroying his.
Related Stories
